Sharqawi and Sha3er's detention renewed

Here's an AP report by journalist and friend Nadia Abou El-Magd:Egypt extends jail time for two pro-reform protesters, including one who was abused in custodyCAIRO, Prosecutors on Wednesday prolonged the detention of two pro-reform Egyptian activists _ including one who was allegedly beaten and abused in custody _ without providing motives, the detainees' lawyer said.Police officials confirmed that activists Mohammed el-Sharkawi and Karim el-Sha'er would be kept in custody for another 15 days, but has not commented on claims from el-Sharkawi's lawyer and family that the 24-year-old student was beaten and sodomized by police during the first hours of his detention.Following a pro-reform protest in Cairo on May 25, an Associated Press reporter witnessed some 15 men in plainclothes grab el-Sharkawi and severely beat him while police looked on. El-Sharkawi was then detained, along with El-Sha'er, who was arrested after police broke into a car he was riding and beat him, eyewitnesses said.Authorities conducted a forensic medical exam on el-Sharkawi three days after his arrest, but haven't made the results public. Ahmed Seif, the detainees' lawyer, said el-Skarkawi hasn't been treated for fractures to his hand and ribs sustained while in police custody.Both activists were arrested three days after being set free from a month detention for having previously joined another peaceful pro-reform demonstration.Authorities have not issued charges against the two men, but their supporters say they are being targeted for their prominent role in youth movements pushing for democratic reform in Egypt.Hundreds of demonstrators belonging to secular pro-reform groups or to Muslim organizations were arrested in April and May during a series of peacefull protests in Cairo. Under Egyptian law, authorities can hold detainees for up to six months without trial.The U.S. State Department publicly criticized Egypt in May for its crackdown on secular political activists, and called for an investigation into el-Sharkawi's case.Meanwhile on Wednesday, authorities ordered the release 12 members of Egypt's largest Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Some 150 Brotherhood members have been ordered free since beeing arrested during pro-reform demonstrations in May. The Brotherhood's lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, told AP that up to 700 Brotherhood activists have been arrested since March.The Brotherhood, an Islamic-based political party that is formally banned but usually tolerated by the government, won nearly 20 percent of the legislature's seats in last year's elections, making it the largest opposition bloc.The United States has urged Cairo to push ahead with democratization and expressed unease about the country's human rights record. In May, Congress only narrowly voted to continue funneling aid money to Egypt.